Pork Makes Front Page of STL Post

While sitting at my usual station at work, the one by the door (for a quick get away come closing time), a fellow workmate called to my attention the news paper. "Hey," she said, "did you you see the paper's got pigs on it?"

Half asleep I articulately reply, "Huh?"

"The paper," she repeats, "there's a picture of pigs on the front page. Did you see it?"

Image on front page of St. Louis Post Dispatch

With that I roll my little chair over to the door and pop up from my perch to fetch the paper from the hall/waiting area table. Sure enough, Mr. Rick Rehmeier, a Missouri pork producer, was on the front cover herding a group of hogs. Of course, I had to read the article and since it was not busy I stood in the hall and enjoyed the article.

Image of Rick Rehmeier herding hogs is from STL Today site

I was aware that the U.S. was discussing exporting pork to China but I didn't know that they wanted Lambert to be the export hub for overseas flights. That is very cool. Not only will this boost Lambert's revenue but it will also create a great source of revenue for the entire state of MO. If this deal goes through and China decides to spend on quality, high-end pork products it will really boost Missouri's pork, corn, soybean, and overall farm industries as well.

As Rex Ricketts, director of the University of Missouri Extension's commercial agriculture program, said in the article, ""The one thing we do well in this country is agriculture, and we want to keep doing that. Any time we can move product to China or any other country, it's a good deal."

Couldn't agree more Mr. Ricketts!


You can read this article at STL Today by clicking here.

Great News for Pork Producers

China begins accepting U.S. pork shipments
May 14, 2010 by Ken Anderson
Brownfield Ag News

China has given official notice that it is again accepting shipments of U.S. pork.

The Chinese closed their market to U.S. pork in late April 2009 in the wake of an outbreak in humans of novel H1N1 influenza, which the media misnamed “swine” flu. In March, the U.S. and China reached an agreement to reopen the Chinese markets to U.S. pork imports, but it took China until now to begin accepting product.

National Pork Producers Council president Sam Carney of Adair, Iowa calls it “tremendous news for U.S. pork producers.” Carney says with that issue resolved, NPPC will now focus on the remaining impediments to exporting U.S. pork to China. Those include China’s ban on U.S. pork produced with ractopamine, an FDA-approved feed ingredient that improves efficiencies in pork production—subsidies China provides its domestic pork producers—and a value-added tax it imposes on imports. Read what the Pork Network has to say.

If you think the media has no effect on businesses, think again. Because the media nicknamed the H1N1 virus "swine" flu pork shipments to China came to a screeching halt--worth nearly $690 million in 2008. These kinds of mishaps, though seemingly harmless, have drastic consequences that affect us all. When Ag hurts, the consumer hurt. These little things trickle down the line and eventually end up costing you a lot more at the grocery store. Because of the H1N1 nickname, HSUS has jumped all over this opportunity to attack animal agriculture. They have links with hints like "Find out where swine flu originated. (Hint: think factory farms)." This kind of misleading information is harmful to agribusinesses everywhere and I don't just mean the corporations, either.


Another big misconception is the fact that the word “agribusiness” applies to every farmer out there. Activist groups, like HSUS, use the word "agribusiness" as if it is a bad thing but farming is a business. Farmers do not farm because it is fun, or neat, or they just have a lot of time on their hands. They farm to make money because farming is a business. Yes, we enjoy it but it is hard work and it takes a great deal of money to provide food for our community, our nation, and the world. Agribusiness is farming, period. Moreover, misleading labels like "swine" flu are dangerous to every farming out there.


A little common sense goes a long way.